Wales

Wales

Members: Alejandra Aguayo
Catalina Bascur
Leslie Garcia
Vannia Salazar
Grade: 2°MD
Date: 28 september 2012
Members: Alejandra Aguayo
Catalina Bascur
Leslie Garcia
Vannia Salazar
Grade: 2°MD
Date: 28 september 2012



Index

History ofWales……………………………………………………………………....…3
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Location
Wales is a hilly country; one quarter of its total land area is over 1,000 feet high; it has 168 summits over 2,000 feet and 15 over 3,000 feet. Wales possesses the highest mountain and the highest waterfall in Britain south of Scotland, the highest sand dunes and the deepest cave in Britain; its National Museum contains the largest sea turtleever recorded; its Snowdon Mountain is the wettest place in the British Isles; it has the highest January and November temperatures ever recorded in Britain; the growing season in southwest Dyfed is approximately 365 days a year at sea level. Wales contains over 400 natural lakes and over 90 reservoirs; it is the source of three major British rivers; it is home to three National Parks.History of Wales
* ANCIENT WALES
During the last ice age people hunted reindeer and mammoth in what is now Wales. When the ice age ended around 10,000 BC new animals appeared in Wales, such as red deer and wild boar. Stone age hunters hunted them both. They also gathered plants for food.
In about 4,000 BC farming was introduced into Wales, although the people still used stonetools. About 2,000 BC people learned to use bronze. Then, about 600 BC Celts migrated to Wales, bringing iron tools and weapons with them. The Celts were a warlike people and they built many hill forts across Wales. However they were also skilled craftsmen with iron, bronze and gold.
In 43 AD the Romans invaded Southeast England. They began the conquest of Wales about 50 AD, but it took severaldecades. In 78 AD the Romans captured Anglesey, the headquarters of the Celtic priests, the Druids. That effectively ended Celtic resistance.
Afterwards Wales was firmly under Roman rule. The Romans created a network of forts across Wales to control the Celtic tribes. Sometimes towns grew up outside the forts as the soldiers provided a market for the townspeople’s goods. The most important Roman townin Wales was Caerwent. To us it would seem tiny, with only a few thousand inhabitants but towns were very small in those days. Other Roman towns were Maridunum (Carmarthen) and Segontium (Caernarfon). The Romans also built a number of villas in Wales.
Christianity arrived in Wales in the 3rd century. We know that two Christians named Julius and Aaron were martyred at Caerleon. However persecutionof Christians ceased in 313.
However in the 4th century the Roman Empire went into decline. The last Roman soldiers left Britain in 407 AD. Afterwards the Roman way of life slowly vanished. Wales split into separate kingdoms.
* WALES IN THE MIDDLE AGES
Meanwhile the Saxons invaded eastern England. They marched westwards and by the 7th century AD they had reached the borders of Wales.Centuries of fighting between Welsh and Saxons followed.
Then in the 9th century the Vikings began attacking Wales. However a man named Rhodri ap Merfyn or Rhodri Mawr (Rhodri the Great) became king of Gwynedd in the northeast. In 855 he also became king of Powys in eastern Wales. In 856 he won a great victory over the Danes. However the Vikings continued to attack Wales, at intervals, until the end ofthe 10th century.
When William the Conqueror became king of England in 1066 he did not attempt to conquer Wales. However he did grant land along the English-Welsh border to powerful Norman lords. These lords sometimes encroached on Welsh territory of their own accord.
During the reign of William II (1087-1100) the Normans continued their attacks on Wales. However the...